Meet The 11-Year-Old Who Has Provided Over 900 Pairs Of Shoes To Kids In Need

The Ker­ry K Foun­da­tion is mak­ing incred­i­ble strides in the com­mu­ni­ty. Owned and oper­at­ed by 11-year old Ker­ry Koran­teng, who start­ed the foun­da­tion when she vis­it­ed Ghana and saw chil­dren walk­ing bare­foot every­day. Many par­ents and care­givers are unable to afford a pair of shoes for their chil­dren in Ghana and through her foun­da­tion, she has been able to raise 948 pairs of new shoes so far! 

We had the chance to speak with the founder Ker­ry her­self in our exclu­sive inter­view below.

1.What was that moment like when you vis­it­ed Ghana and saw chil­dren walk­ing bare­foot?

I felt very sad. I just didn’t get why they looked so dirty and walk­ing bare­foot. I start­ed ask­ing ques­tions and I found out they looked that way because their par­ents couldn’t afford to pro­vide prop­er clothes and shoes.
I was then moti­vat­ed to find a solu­tion.

2.Congratulations on almost send­ing 1,000 pairs of new shoes to chil­dren in Ghana. Do you feel the chil­dren in Ghana are in need of any­thing else that our read­ers might need to know? How can we help?

Thank you! There are a lot of needs, espe­cial­ly in the rur­al part of Ghana. About 90% of chil­dren are shab­bi­ly dressed and walk dai­ly to school with no shoes. They don’t have libraries or access to sto­ry­books. As much as I love to help them, it’s get­ting chal­leng­ing on ship­ping the shoes, clothes and books to Ghana. The recent one cost $1250. I will be glad if oth­ers help my vision by donat­ing to my go fund me page to help with shipping/transportation fees. Also, one can buy any of my lip care prod­ucts since prof­its are donat­ed towards the ship­ping fees.

3.Congratulations on your lip care busi­ness. What is the name of the busi­ness and how did this idea come about?

Thank you. Ker­rykkos­met­ics is the name of my lip care busi­ness. The kids in need in Ghana moti­vat­ed me to start the busi­ness. I thought of ways to help them and since I love sci­ence, mix­ing and cre­at­ing stuff is nat­ur­al to me. Most of the par­ents of the chil­dren in need I vis­it­ed in the cen­tral region of Ghana, have coconut trees so my mom brought the idea of them extract­ing coconut oil so we can buy to give them income. When I start­ed read­ing about the ben­e­fits of coconut oil, my lip care prod­ucts came into being.

4.What is your favorite part about being a busi­ness own­er and also run­ning a non­prof­it foun­da­tion?

The best part is being a social entre­pre­neur. I love the fact that I’m cre­at­ing what I love and also help­ing oth­ers in the process.

5.What are your future goals?

I would love to be able to sup­ply shoes to any kid walk­ing bare­foot every day. I would love to have part­ners to help me achieve my goals.

I also have a pre­teen pageant com­ing up. I’m work­ing very hard to win so I can use that plat­form to spread aware­ness and get more peo­ple to help. I believe no child should have to wor­ry about food, clothes, and shel­ter.

6.Where can peo­ple donate and fol­low this incred­i­ble move­ment on social media?

Dona­tions can go through my go fund me page and also through my web­site Ker­ry K Foun­da­tion, or on GoFundMe .